Things Left Unsaid
by Eternalight
Summary: "Every choice comes with a price.You of all people should know that." When an enemy from Lex's past comes back to haunt him, he will do anything to stop her. But what happens when the consequence is almost too much for him to bear? *NO SLASH!*
1. Beginning

**Rating**: The whole fan fiction gets a *very* hard **_T+_** rating. Not only for action, blood and drama from chapter to chapter, but also for mentions and scenes involving death and minor swearing from various characters throughout.  
><strong>CharactersRelationships:** Oh jeez, considering the length of this project...where do I even begin? *takes a deep breath* All right, the main story's plot is based strictly on the brotherly relationship that Lex shares with Clark, but the relationship he shares with Jonathan and Martha plays a large role in the later chapters as well. So I suppose you could consider this basically an "Extended" Kent Family story. :) Now, for the main characters...they are Clark Kent, (**_16_**) Lex Luthor (_**23**_) Martha and Jonathan Kent, Chloe Sullivan and the main antagonist. (Sorry, but I can't say her name here. Figuring out who she is a main plot in the story's first three chapters and I want it to be a mystery for a bit!) Also, there are various other characters throughout, such as special cameos, (One of whom is a friend of mine, and one who is another character in the DC Universe) and other minor characters from Smallville, but those I listed above are the *most* important. :D  
><strong>Genre:<strong> _Adventure/Family._  
><strong>Warnings?<strong>: Mmm, yes indeed. As mentioned above there are some very dramatic themes in this fan fiction. Lots of drama, lots of angst, lot of blood. Swearing and death scenes as well. So if you can't take things like that, or it isn't something you like seeing in your Smallville fan fiction, please turn around now before you get woozy. *giggle* ;) 3  
><strong>World:<strong> **_My Canon_** (Meaning that this is the same exact time line and world where my other main stories, _Devotion_ and _Kent Family Christmas_ take place in. And, because of that reasons, some things are changed around to fit my ideas and needs. Such as, for example, Lex being far closer to the Kents than the series acutally portrays him to be.)  
><strong>Notes: <strong>Oh boy, oh boy, it's finally here! If you have been following my work recently, or you read my special Smallville Christmas story that I wrote a few months ago...you may or may not have seen a mentioning of an upcoming story I was currently in the process of creating. The very same one which was the main reasons I wrote Kent Family Christmas in the first place! Well, if you guys were curious about that, and why I had to turn around and write something entirely new so that Lex was close enough to the Kents so it made sense in context...then never fear! Because dear readers, you are looking at the exact story I mentioned previously!

Yep, after almost seven months of piecing every detail together, creating new characters, making new concepts and canon and various other things that always takes far too long for me...the story (Or at least the first chapter for the time being) is finally done! :D And honestly, considering that this story was originally based off of nothing but a very silly death!fiction I wrote so long ago to go along with an old graphic of mine, I'm honestly very happy with how serious, how long, and how amazing it totally wound up becoming! :D This is, my friends, officially the ending (Now, now, don't worry. I still have one more piece that works as the _unofficial_ ending to do after this.) to my Lex and Clark series I've been working on for over a year now. And it's what I have considered my other stories to have been building up to. It all comes down to this right here, and I seriously want to go out with a bang! So, without any other delays, let's just get right down to it, shall we?

_(C): Clark Kent/Superman does not at all belong to me. He belongs to the men who originally created him in the first place. You know, those two insanely amazing guys who aren't me whatsoever. I'm a girl, and they are guys, and thus...are not me! The TV series Smallville is not mine either. Neither is Smallville versions of Clark, Lex, Martha Jonathan or any of the other characters that appear in this fan fiction. Seriously! I have nothing! Zip! Nada! Diddly-do-da! I am, just as I'll always be, an artistic hobo! Honestly, not a single thing belongs to me other than this massive piece of fan fiction and the main antagonist of it! That's it! Other than that, they all belong to their rightful owners! I'm not at ALL daring to claim ownership over a single thing! They aren't mine, and they will never be mine. This should all be common knowledge now. Please don't sue me! ;_;_

* * *

><p>Cold, hard, rain beat down heavily on the dusty dirt pavement of the parking lot of the Wild Coyote—a locally owned bar near the outskirts of Smallville Kansas—as two figures danced swiftly underneath it's chilling downpour. The younger man grit his teeth in sheer frustration as he jumped backward, away from the woman's, his attacker, duel blades. Landing back on his feet, he took a moment to catch his breath and shut his green eyes tightly; listening carefully to her movements in the storm.<p>

Listening to her as she paced back and forth on the sand, to her weapons as they scraped against one another in her hands, and to her irritated grumblings as she stood on the other side of the field; while he, himself, slowly calculated in his mind what position her next attack would come from.

And, just as he assumed, not less than a second later she lunged forward out of her darkened hiding place, taking advantage of, what she believed was, his sudden distraction. The blade in her left hand sped forward as she closed in on him from behind, but when he heard her scream; he opened his eyes and immediately forced himself back to the moment at hand.

With an inward grin, he moved out of the way of her oncoming attack, and felt her blade do nothing more than slightly graze the arm of his black dress shirt. Peering over his shoulder, his smile widened when he saw an upset frown cross her red lips.

His mirth was short-lived, however; for as he stood there and watched her anger intensify because of the ignorant misstep, he allowed himself to let his guard down momentary, and she easily noticed. With a grin that matched his own—albeit with darker intentions—she took her chance and disappeared back into the cover of rain; intending to come at him from another angle

He heard her feet shuffle, and he quickly re-cocked the black _Glock 9mm_ that he grasped in his left hand, held the gun out in front of him, and turned to face where he believed she stood near the glass door to the bar. Although, by the time he realized that she was no longer there, and had more than likely moved to another part of the parking lot…she had already repositioned herself beside him.

Using the blade she wielded in her other hand, she thrust her body forward, and successfully landed a blow on him; slashing him across forehead.

Feeling the blade bite into his flesh and the blood beginning to seep out from the cut, he let out a yell thick with both pain and anger. A smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she watched from afar—having moved back after she nicked him—as he reached up to touch the small injury. He pulled his hand back, and she heard him swear under his breath when he noticed the blood coating his fingers.

He rose from the ground to stand back on his feet, and he shook his head. No longer giving any attention to the wound even as the blood continued to trickle down the side of his face and drip underneath his chin. Taking a deep breath, he recomposed himself and called out to her in the blur of falling rain. Demanding that she show herself, and casually explaining that she would be severely disappointed when she discovered it would take so much more to finish him.

As his words fell, the only answer that he received was a long silence echoing through the darkness. Shifting his weight, he tightened his grip on his, still outstretched, gun, and began to dart his eyes back and forth through the dimly lit area. Even as he struggled to grasp his surroundings through the thick veil of rain, he determinedly searched for any trace of the woman; all the while he continued to berate himself repeatedly in his head for losing sight of her in the first place

Standing still, and letting the rain gently fall over his bald head as he waited in vain for some sort of response from his ever persistent adversary, he sighed and dropped his hands at his sides; allowing himself to let his guard down slightly.

He knew that there was no chance that she had retreated so easily, and she—much like him—was only taking this pause in battle to collect her thoughts and simply formulate another plan of attack. Breathing in, he slowly backed away from where he stood in the center of the lot, and moved toward the side of the building; where his black limousine sat parked near the furthest wall.

Reaching the driver's side door, he looked down remorsefully at the torn, blood soaked body of his driver that lay spiraled out on the ground, and frowned deeply. This wasn't supposed to happen, and he knew that the driver had become nothing more than an unnecessary causality of the incredibly foolish war that his attacker wished to rage upon him.

'_I assume at this rate, one of the *many* causalities…'_

Groaning and shaking his head, he forced his eyes away from the man's body and turned his full attention back on the battle that he was currently trapped in; scanning the area once more. But even as he continued to peer out in front of him, a deep sense of shame twisted in the pit of his stomach, and another, far more morbid, thought suddenly prickled in the back of his mind.

He knew that, no matter how much he had wished it were possible, there was not a single thing that he could have done to prevent his driver's death. Even as he sat in his seat in the back of the limousine, nearly helpless, as the events played out in front of his eyes; he could do nothing but watch. Watch as the car was forced off of the street towards his home, and into the parking lot of a rundown bar. Watch as his driver was ripped from within, and brutally stabbed through the chest for doing more than trying to protect him from a crazed attacker

Only when the woman had hurled him out of the back seat and tossed him onto the hard, wet ground – completely face down in the pool of blood ebbing from the man's body – did he feel the anger, that had been building up in his heart, rush forward, overwhelm his actions and knock him out of his internal shock. Almost completely taking over as he somehow found enough strength to retaliate against her.

But, even despite the fact that he could easily vend off the attempts at his life, it did very little to comfort him. Standing up against the limo in the rain's cold downpour, and finally taking all of what had happened in stride for the first time, his utter guilt of the situation surged forward and clung heavily to his mind.

Because Lex Luthor knew that, sooner or later, this would end up happening.

The distant sound of footsteps reached his ears, and he snapped his attention away from his thoughts and back onto the parking lot. Stepping away from his limo, and raising his gun once again, he quickly moved back into defense. Carefully looking about, he patiently waited for her to make her next move as he fingered the trigger nervously. But, as the seconds ticked on, he ended up hearing her disembodied voice begin to speak instead.

"You know, Lex, you only brought this on yourself," She told him sharply as she echoed through the wind and the rain. He glanced back and forth, hoping to spot her moving somewhere through the stretch of land, and allowing him enough time to pinpoint her direct location; but sadly, to no avail. The rain was beginning to fall even more heavily, and he could hardly see ten feet in front of him, let alone a taller woman who sounded as though she was coming from all around.

"All of this is your fault! You're the one who did this to me! You're the one who _ruined_ my _life!_

As he continued to listen to her words, he slowly felt the hate and anger igniting within him, taking hold of his brain and shutting it off to any sense that wanted to remain in control. His free hand balled itself into a fist, and a scowl firmly crossed his face. He wanted to scream back to her, to explain to her that this _wasn't_ his fault.

To somehow force enough sense into her head to prove to her that she was so wrapped up within her own delusions that she had failed to realize one thing. That it was _hers_ instead. That all of it was _always _her entire fault to begin with.

After all, Lex was the son of a Luthor, and it was common knowledge that Luthor's were never this careless. That Luthor's never made such naive mistakes in their scientific research and calculations. And that they always, _always_ knew better than to tamper with things that not even _they_ could possibly try to understand.

'_Or perhaps *I'm* the one that's become delusional._

However, he never got a chance to say a single word.

For the very next thing that he felt was a burning pain shooting up his side; stripping him of breath, as he realized that his attacker stood directly beside him. She reached out and wrapped her left arm around the front of his neck, pulling him close to her body, as she twisted her weapon inside of him. Leaning forward, she sweetly whispered into his ear.

"And now it's due time that I did the same for yours." She uttered, fiercely ripping the blade out, and stepping back; watching him crumble to his knees with a cruel smile

Lex grimaced as he held his side with his right hand; blood flowing incredibly quickly from between his fingers and dripping onto the ground below. With a jagged breath, he slowly raised his head and looked at her with an expression of anger. Somehow managing to suppress the agony coursing through his body, he shakily raised his gun to aim at her—incredibly blurring—figure that stood above him in one final desperate attempt.

Looking down, and almost admiring his seemingly never-ending will power, the corners of her lips twitched slightly. And it took almost everything she had to force herself not to burst out in complete hilarity

"Now, Lex, do you honestly believe that you could do—" She began to say, gesturing to him with a graceful tilt of her head, and resting it upon her shoulders in a mocking way. But, before she could finish her sentence…the sound of his gun went off

Her green eyes widened as she felt herself stumble back. Not only due to her instinctive reflex in regards to the loud noise, but also by the force of the bullet entering the side of her arm

Quickly catching herself, she looked down at the entry wound in alarm. Watching as the dark crimson blood slowly started to stain and run down the arm of her shirt, and she could feel herself practically seething from the boundless hatred that the injury had somehow managed to call back forward.

She spun her head around and stared down at Lex, and _damn it_, he was smiling. Even as he bled from his wounds, an overly proud grin crossed his face because of what he had been able to accomplish; and oh, how she utterly_ despised _seeing that arrogant look on his face

"You bastard!" She cried; struggling to place a hand over her bleeding arm as her eyes turned cold. However, even as she continued to look down at Lex, she slowly realized that not only did his blood continue to gush out in an unnerving rate, but it also had managed to form a small puddle under his feet. And with each pained breath he took as he continued to hold the gun in front of him, she noticed that his grin faltered slightly each time; as though it was just another well placed façade.

Watching him, and drinking in his anguished movements, her fury greatly subsided and she found herself smiling because of the wondrous discovery. Keeping her smile carefully in place, she started to back away.

Before a dreadful silence overtook the parking lot—turned battlefield within the last hour—and Lex was left alone down on his knees, he somehow managed to hear his attacker's final words. And he swore that he could still see the smile on her face

"Ah, well, that's quite all right…" She expressed quietly, letting her voice trail off as she gradually faded from Lex's vision, and into the canopy of darkness. He watched her go with knitted eyebrows and a large angry scowl over his face. He wanted to go after her, wanted this insanity to stop before it even had a chance to fully begin. But as he tried to move forward, his body screamed out against him, forcing him to stay where he was.

Before a dreadful silence overtook the parking lot—turned battlefield—and Lex was left alone down on his knees, he somehow heard his attacker's final words. And he swore that he could still see the delighted smile on her face.

"You'll be dead soon enough as it is."

When her words fell and then disappeared into the night, and all became quiet within the Wild Coyote; Lex then allowed his crumbling mask of strength to shatter to pieces. Finally showing the unbelievable amount of pain that he had been struggling to shield away from the first moment she had stabbed him in the ribs. For he would not give her the benefit of seeing him submit to his weakness.

In a fluent rush of motion, he quickly dropped the gun from his shaking hand and fell forward. Sweat beaded down his face as he held his bleeding side with both hands; desperately trying to stop the increasing flow of blood in any way humanly possible

However, as he continued to apply as much pressure to the wound as he could, he dimly became aware of the taste of copper at the corners of his mouth. And that's when he realized that his head wound had begun to bleed again, and was in the process of dripping down his cheeks anew.

And he knew that with both injuries bleeding so fervently at once... No, he absolutely refused to allow that to happen

With a small grunt of determination, he squared his shoulders, and leaned back on his feet. He rocked back and forth until he was able to stand up without having to move his hands away from his side. He inhaled and took in several uneven gasps of air, and very slowly began to stagger from where he had fallen; proceeding towards his limo once again and ignoring the small trail of blood that he was leaving as drug himself down the path

Finally reaching the side of the car, he fell heavily against the window. Reaching down to grab the handle, and practically throwing the door open, he wearily nudged himself inside onto the leather seats. Looking down, he mentally thanked God several times over when he saw that the keys were still in the ignition, and having to search his dead driver for wherever he kept them was now one less troublesome task he had to force his aching body to fulfill.

Exhaling slowly, calming his overly distressed emotions; he started up the limo and smoothly backed out of the bar

As Lex drove down the country road leading away from the merger buildings that laid upon the outskirts and back into the quiet little town, the sweet call of unconsciousness suddenly beckoned to him; his vision clouding. Catching himself as his head slipped forward onto his chest, he jerked upwards with a startled gasp and forced himself back awake.

Momentarily glancing down at the blood that still continued to flow from his wound, and was in the process of staining the seat, Lex suddenly came to realize the exact amount of danger that he was currently in; and how he would need to find someone to help him with this blasted mess _very_ soon.

Because he knew if he didn't, there was a pretty good chance that he would not make it through the night.

_'Or,'_ He thought wryly despite it all. _'Even the next hour at this rate…_

Coming onto a two-way street, Lex's creased eyebrows lowered in contemplation. He knew that the westbound road lead towards downtown Smallville, and eventually it would turn towards his home. And if, by some miracle, he actually managed to survive the thirty minute trip, he could easily call one of his best on hand doctors to look him over and save his life. However, waiting for them to actually _arrive _at the mansion as he slowly bled to death _all alone _in his library became far less flattering to the young man as he continued to weigh out his various options.

And slowly, he turned his eyes in the other direction.

The eastern road was considerably a much shorter trip, as its destination was less than ten minutes away, instead of the Luthor mansion's rather unsettling thirty. And although it _did _lead further out into the country, far away from Smallville's medical center, its trained staff, or even Lex's own professional hired hands. And it's only real residence amidst the timid flatlands was nothing more than a small, completely innocent, yellow farmhouse…it was still home to the only people that Lex had ever considered himself to be safest with.

With nothing more than a brisk nod of the head as he came to his conclusion, he turned the wheel of the limousine and went east.

* * *

><p>Clark Kent walked down the stairs of his home with a large smile on his face; collecting his red jacket that was draped over on the table in the hallway as he did. He had promised one of his best friends, Chloe Sullivan, that he would come over to her house and help her with an article for The Torch—the Smallville High's student newspaper; one of which Chloe was the chief editor of—that was continuously giving her problem upon problem each time she tried to edit it. And Clark, never wanting to say no to a friend in need, happily agreed to give her all the undivided attention he could possibly muster.<p>

"I'll be back later, guys!" He called to his parents, Jonathan and Martha, who sat reading in the living room together. "I'm going over to Chloe's to help her out with the 'article of death.'"

Reaching the bottom of the staircase, he chuckled lightly as he thought back over Chloe's rather amusing choice of words when she had called him earlier that evening; nearly begging him to be her '_knight in shining armor_'. When the sweet voice of his mother spoke up, telling him that that would be all right and they would leave a plate of dinner waiting for him in the oven when he got back; he broke from his thoughts and smiled his thanks.

Clark turned away from his mother and father, and was about to head out the front door when the sound of knocking suddenly came from the opposite side, and his expression twisted in confusion. As far as he knew, his parents weren't expecting anyone tonight, and, unless her plans had suddenly changed, _he_ was the one that was supposed to meet Chloe at her house…not the other way around. Clark shrugged his shoulders and reached for the doorknob; opening it and kindly addressing whoever it was that was on the other end.

Almost instantly he felt the blood drain from his face.

Lex stood in front of him, soaking wet as he leaned against the Kent's doorframe. His head was lowered and his left hand, which was completely covered in patches of dried blood, was held over his freshly bleeding ribs. He struggled with each breath he took, and Clark realized as he looked him over, that he couldn't remember a time he hadever seen his older friend _that_ deathly pale before.

Clark blinked; somehow being able to hold back his instinctive shock, and moved forward.

"…Lex?" He worriedly called his name as he reached out and placed a hand on Lex's trembling shoulder. When Lex felt Clark's touch, he slowly looked up at his friend and half smiled; a trail of blood dripping from his lips. Not a second later, he opened his mouth to speak, and his tone only caused Clark's worry to intensify.

"Clark…" Lex weakly muttered out in a voice that was nothing more than a mere ghost of a whisper to the young Kent's ears. He winched slightly as he tried to stand up straight; fully intending to walk inside to talk to him and his parents about what had happened. However, any attempt he made to force his muscles to work only failed miserably, and he was simply reduced to slipping back against the wood framing once again.

Moving his head and staring back up, he noticed Clark's overly dazed expression, and despite the pain, he briefly smiled mirthfully and tried to grab his attention by lighting the mood.

"…I hope I didn't…catch you at a bad time…?"

Although Lex tried to make a joke out of the situation that he was in, Clark did not feel any trace of amusement register in his mind. For in that moment, it merely seemed that Lex was slowly bleeding out right in front of his eyes—although, blast it, he didn't know why—and there was nothing even remotely funny about that in the slightest. In fact, seeing Lex in this way only caused his broad shoulders to shake, fear to take over, and any form of logical sense to completely shut off.

And, had any part of his mind actually been working correctly, Clark would have no doubt screamed at himself for reacting in that way. Before him stood one of his closest friends, possibly bleeding to death, and there he was… standing frozen in place; unable to speak

After a moment of nothing but both young men staring at each other as confusion and fear flickered about in their locked gazes, a sharp spasm of pain ran up Lex's side and he groaned weakly. And that's when he realized that, despite Clark's obvious dismay of what was happening, he had to ask for help straightaway; if not from him, then perhaps his parents.

Lex leaned from the door and did his best to try and stand up again, but as he did, another rush of pain – far more severely than the previous one – shot up inside of him and his vision rapidly turned dim before him. He swayed on his feet as the dizziness set in, and almost as a reflex, he called out to Clark with whatever remaining strength he had.

As the sound of his name reached his ears, Clark managed to snap himself of his shocked filled daze and focus his attention back on Lex. Just in time to watch as the young Luthor reached out a shaking hand, trying to grab a hold of Clark's jacket, and tumbled forward with a quiet murmur; his voice fading.

"…He–help me…

"Lex!" Clark cried out as his mind shifted into overdrive by the sight of him falling. He jerked forward and grabbed him underneath the arms before he could fully hit the ground. Feeling himself being held up by Clark, Lex rolled his head against his shoulder and closed his tired eyes; finally succumbed to unconsciousness and knowing full well that he would be taken care of by the Kents.

Clark large blue eyes continued to stare down at an unmoving Lex Luthor in his arms, even as he carefully backed away from the door and helped his friend in out of the rain. He lifted him back against his shoulder when they reached the center of the hallway connecting the den to the living room, and Clark became aware of something dripping down his fingers. Something that he knew _wasn't_ rain. Pulling back and looking at his hand, he had to choke down his nausea as he realized Lex's blood now covered it.

Tearing his eyes away, and looking back down at Lex, Clark felt himself beginning to shake once again as overwhelming concern washed over him. However, before he could completely lose himself in his feelings and yell to one of his parents—or _anyone_who cared to listen, for that matter—for help, a voice shrieked from the other room; beating him to it

He didn't have to turn around to see who it was. He didn't have to cast his eyes from Lex's bleeding face to know that she had her hands over her mouth, muffling her voice as his mother often did when she was afraid. And Clark didn't have to say a word to know that his father was currently in the process of mentally listing the names of several doctors that the Kents knew, and carefully choosing the most well trained out of the group to personally save Lex's life.

He did know, however, that over the last year his parents had become considerably much closer to Lex, as he, himself, had as well. And thus, it came as no surprise to the boy that seeing Lex in this sort of battered state caused both Martha and Jonathan's worried emotions to rage on unchecked.

Tightening his grip around Lex's shoulders, Clark addressed his parents in a quiet, timid voice.

"Call 911…" He managed to breathe out. Turning his head away from where his friend leaned in his half-embrace for the first time in several long minutes, he focused his eyes on his mother and father instead; a scared expression on his face. "…Now."

* * *

><p>In the community of Smallville, there were not many people that the Kent family<em> wasn't<em> friends with, and even less that they didn't know on a first name basis. So it was that, when the time came that one of the members of the humble family were struggling with a complicated problem, often the sort which they knew they couldn't solve on their own, their friends were always there to lend a hand whenever the opportunity presented itself. And, for the young Smallville Medical physician—and close friend of the Kent's—Chelsea Kithara, she wasn't at all troubled when she received a sudden call on her cellphone in the middle of the night from a distressed Jonathan Kent.

She listened carefully to his words as he quickly tried to explain the situation to her, as she went about rapidly throwing on whatever clothes she currently had scattered about her Pleasant Meadows apartment. Eventually settling for a black jacket, blue jeans and her best running shoes that she absentmindedly had flung into her closet earlier that evening, she collected her things and left her home; hurrying as fast as she could to her red Mustang that sat in the darkness of the garage.

Jonathan and Martha did their best trying to keep Lex's blood down to a minimal with makeshift bandages as they waited anxiously for Chelsea to arrive at their door. When she did, ten minutes later and almost shoving her way into the living room couch where Lex laid, she automatically went about putting herself to work, and Jonathan smiled.

She was nothing if not persistent with her constant drive to help people, and never without a caring and gentle hand as she did so, it was quite obvious to the eldest Kent that she was the perfect choice in the matter.

As she carefully tended to Lex, mending his wounds so that his wounds no longer spilled blood with one hand, she used her other to blindly shuffle around in her medical bag and pull out a small bottle of orange liquid. She then focused her attention away from her patient, and onto filling the medication into a small syringe and administering it into Lex's forearm.

With a satisfied smile, she lightly patted Lex's hand and rose from where she had been kneeling, turning to face the Kent family who were watching quietly from afar.

"Well, thankfully, whoever did this to him had some pretty lousily aim," She informed them, continuing to smile even as her voice dropped down to a serious tone. "Had the stab wound been a few inches higher, you folks would have had a serious problem on your hands."

When she noticed Clark tense up from where he stood from behind his parents at what she was suggesting, she craned her head over Jonathan's shoulder and tried to explain. "But the fact still remains that they didn't, Clark. Honestly, the worse possible outcome from all this is that Lex is going to wake up with the mother of all migraines and some pretty sore ribs."

Hearing the amazingly comforting news, Martha breathed a sigh of relief. "So, Lex is going to be all right?"

"Yes," She answered, closing the top of the bag she held in her hands as she did. "I gave him something for the pain, and there's a chance that he'll probably be out for the rest of the night, but rest assure that your favorite billionaire playboy is going to be just fine."

"That's great to hear, Chelsea," Jonathan said as he leaned forward and gently placed a hand on her shoulder with a soft smile. "Thank you so much for everything you've done."

With a proud nod, and a quiet hum in response to his words, Chelsea turned on her heels and walked towards the front door; Martha trailing behind as she reached out and gave the girl her own personal thanks in the form of a tender hug.

"It's always a pleasure to help." She murmured as she broke from the hug after a moment, and opened the door to leave. She turned her head back around to look at Martha once more as she reached the end of the porch; smiling widely. "You guys take care of yourselves, all right?"

As her car left the Kent's property, Martha moved back into the living room and was unsurprised when she saw Clark quickly pulling away from the wall and taking his place at Lex's side. His eyes peered up and down his friend's bandaged body as his eyebrows lowered in concern. With a short frown, Martha walked around the couch and placed a hand on her son's shoulder.

"Sweetheart, it's been a long night," She whispered gently, not wanting to wake Lex even if she could. "Don't you think you should try to get some sleep?"

Clark shook his head.

"No, I'm fine," He told her, perhaps a bit more sharply than he should have. When he realized, he lowered his voice and turned to look at her. "Really, I'll be okay. I just want to stay here for a while."

"Clark, you heard what Chelsea said. Lex is going to be perfectly fine."

"I know… it's not that, Mom."

As she listened, Martha's face crinkled slightly; giving him an odd look and not understanding what he meant. Noticing her confusion, Clark simply turned his head back to where Lex slept and sighed quietly to himself. "I just don't…I just don't want him to feel like he's alone."

Martha's bemused expression then faded and was replaced with one of pure compassion. The bond that both her son and Lex shared with one another was something that never failed to surprise her. She smiled and leaned down until she was able to kiss Clark on the top of his head.

"Just try not to stay up too late. After all, she did say that he could sleep through the night."

Clark smirked mischievously. "I'll do my best."

With a playful nudging of her hip against Clark's shoulder, Martha quietly left the room, walking upstairs and leaving the two young men alone.

* * *

><p>The grandfather clock near the window in the living room chimed loudly as the hour turned over to two in the morning, and the sound was enough of an irritation to warrant a small grumble from Lex as his mind began to clear from the medication and he opened his eyes. Less than a second later however, he shut them close again. Mostly because he couldn't believe that he never noticed how brightly the Kents kept their living room in the middle of the night.<p>

Rubbing his stinging eyes with an annoyed sigh, he started to lift himself up on the couch when he stopped half way. _Wait…couch?_ He thought to himself with a raise of his eyebrows as he touched the soft material.

The last thing he remembered was standing in front of Clark as an unbelievable amount of pain shot through him and then falling forward into the teenager's arms, and although it was a bit of a blur regarding the events that took place afterward, he didn't recall anything about falling over on the couch.

With a shake of his head, he simply settled on the idea that the Kent's must have moved him after he passed out. Pulling up from where he was laying, he swung his feet over the side of the couch and almost instantly regretted doing so. For when he did, both of his sides cried out in protest simultaneously from the quick action. With a hiss of pain, he crashed back onto his pillow with a loud thud.

Lex tried lifting himself up several times more after his fall, but each time he did, it only caused him to mumble certain choice words underneath his breath and clutch his lower body as it ached painfully. And soon, he just decided it would be best if he just laid there and didn't move at all.

And that was when he heard a familiar voice call his name from the kitchen in surprise. Lex raised his head only slightly and saw Clark walking forward; coming to kneel beside him with a large grin.

"Lex, you're awake!"

Turning his head to the side, they both exchanged relieved looks to one another, and Lex couldn't help but smile because of Clark's cheerful mood. After a moment, Clark began to rise from the floor to stand, and he, too, quickly went about lifting himself up as well; doing it so that his friend could sit next to him. But, before he could, he felt two strong hands come down on his shoulders, forcing him back into place.

"Hey, take it easy now, Lex," Clark told him seriously. "Unless you've forgotten, you were kinda …stabbed in the ribs? You really can't be overdoing it like that, you know."

Lex's eyes narrowed and he frowned at Clark's words. No, he hadn't forgotten what had happened despite his still somewhat cloudy mind. In fact, as he struggled with the pain that made him feel as though he had been ran over by one of his company's eighteen wheelers—_Twice—_the thoughts of him being stabled after his foolish miscalculation was one of the several things that swiftly swam through his mind; that and wondering where the woman who was responsible for his injuries had disappeared to after she fled the battlefield.

But as he stared up at Clark's face and noted the rather worried expression that lay upon it, he decided not to start up an argument over such trivial matters, and instead used an obvious, but always effective, lie to change the subject.

"Clark, I'm fine," He grumbled out. His frown still in place as he pulled away from Clark's grip and managed to suppress the pain long enough so that he was able to lean fully up against the arm of the couch, even despite Clark's attempts to stop him.

Taking a deep breath, Lex opened his eyes and smiled. "You have to stop worrying about me, buddy."

Clark crossed his arms and shook his head against his friend's overly stubborn nature. "Well then, if that's the case…" He grinned, leaning forward and politely bowing before Lex; his tone changing and becoming rather silly. "Might I, Clark Kent, please have permission from the ever stubborn Mr. Luthor to continue to worry about his health just long enough so that I can at least bring him something to drink?"

Unable to hold back a laugh, Lex nodded his head and Clark, taking that as his way of telling him yes, walked into the kitchen and headed for the refrigerator.

Once he was out of sight, Lex leaned his head back over the arm of the couch and rubbed a hand over his throbbing forehead; feeling over the several cuts and bruises over his face as he slowly massaged his temples. Realizing that he probably _looked_ far worse than he felt, Lex's frustration got the better of him. And before he could stop himself, he called out to Clark, whose head was—at least from his point of view—currently in the fridge.

"On second thought, Clark; if it isn't alcohol then I don't want it!"

Clark laughed briefly at his yelling, reached above his head to pull down two glasses that were in the top cabinet and poured the drinks he held in his other hand carefully into them both. As he walked back, Lex saw that his friend held an average glass in his right hand, but also a wine glass in his left. Sitting down beside Lex on the couch, Clark handed the wine glass to him.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that my family was all out of scotch tonight," He said with a smile as he brought his glass to his lips and took a small sip. "But I hope you won't mind some finely aged apple juice?"

Pretending to be offended; Lex scoffed, emptied the glass in one long drink, and then placed it on the coffee table in front of them. "…Consider yourself lucky that I'm feeling generous enough to let it slide _this _time, Kent." He smirked, giving Clark a gentle nudging with his good arm.

They shared a friendly laugh, but it wasn't long until a slow silence then fell over both young men as they sat together on the couch, hidden in the late night shadows; the only light ebbing from the other room. They stared forward at the fireplace as their mind went over the exact same subject with very different reasons. After a moment or two of awkwardly fiddling with the glass in his hands, Clark spoke up and finally broke the quiet.

"Lex…" He said eventually, letting his voice trail off as he waited for Lex to turn his head around. When Clark felt his friend's curious gaze upon him, he pushed forward; all the while he stared down at his feet nervously. "…What happened tonight?"

Hearing those words, Lex winched and turned away. The complicated events of the evening were not something that he felt very comfortable in explaining, even less in explaining them to Clark. In his head, he could already see the teenager's shocked reaction to the truth twisting on his face.

Running a hand over the back of his neck, knowing that since the subject had now been placed out on the table, there was nothing he could do to get out of having to talk about it; Lex sighed to himself and tried to think of the best possible way to handle his next words.

"Basically Clark, I ended up way in over my head at a bar, and I wound up paying for it." Was all he told him; and to Lex, that one short sentence contained much more of the truth than anything else he could have crudely tried to piece together to stop him from asking.

Clark looked up from the floor and over at his side to see that Lex had begun to stare down in his place. As he watched him, Clark's eyes danced over the bruises on the older man's face and he suddenly felt a wave of vengeance rush forward; altogether overwhelming him in regards to what had happen to his friend.

"But who did this to you?" He stammered out with a furious expression. One of which Lex would have no doubt been surprised to see. "Did you know who it was?"

With his eyes completely obscured by the darkness of the room as he continued to stare at anything _expect_ Clark's face, Lex shook his head. "No, I didn't know her."

Clark raised an eyebrow. "Her?"

"It was a woman that attacked me, Clark." Lex replied with a hard frown, looking up finally and turning to stare at Clark. His eyes were half lidded and his tone was serious. "But I had never met her before."

Thinking over his mental list of the various criminals that had been a great threat to his family and friends in the past, Clark tried to narrow down who it was that could have done this. He knew that most of them were locked away in high-tech institutions such as Belle Reeve, or—at the very worse—had ended up being killed because of their last attempts at someone's life.

But, even as he continued to think in silence, not a single name he recalled from the list seemed to have enough motivation—or power—to go after Lex and almost successfully take his life.

As Clark became lost within his thoughts, and the quietness, as well as the subject of the conversation itself, slowly wound up proving too much for Lex to handle, he eased himself up from his seat, addressing the younger man as he did.

"Clark, I want to thank you and your parents for what you did for me tonight," He stated as he walked around the couch, heading out of the living room and towards the front door. "I deeply appreciate it."

Clark's eyes snapped back to awareness as he heard his friend's words. And, practically leaping off the couch, he followed after him.

"Wait, just where on earth do you think you're going?" He cried out, his eyes wide as he grabbed Lex by the shoulder and prevented him from taking another step.

"I'm going _home_, Clark." Lex answered him, looking down at the hand that refused to let go with a scowl.

"Have you completely lost your mind?" Clark exclaimed with a fresh spark of anger in his voice. He placed his other hand on Lex's free shoulder and spun him around until they were both facing one another again; when he did, he allowed his emotions to break loose. "Lex, this woman almost killed you tonight! And who's the say that the next time she finds you, she won't try and finish the job? Lex, please, it's not safe for you to—"

"That's enough!" Lex yelled suddenly, cutting his pleas off as his eyes flashed dangerously. Seeing the unnerving look in his friend's eyes, Clark flinched and dropped his hands away from his shoulders. And almost instantly Lex softened his voice down into a much kinder tone.

"You're letting your concern over my well being cloud your judgment, Kent," He explained with a half grin. "Honestly, you would be surprised to find out just how many times I've had to deal with people attempting to kill me. Despite it all, Clark, deep down I'm still the son of a tyrant living in a small town where not everyone looks favorably on the accursed Luthor name or their business methods."

Clark's eyebrows twitched in confusion and Lex continued. "Basically, what happened tonight was just another number to add to my personal list of 'close calls'." He said plainly, turning away from Clark and moving towards the door. "You shouldn't concern yourself over it. I know I won't."

"But Lex, wait—!"

"Clark," Lex cut him off in a rather firm voice as he opened the door and began to walk out. "I'm sure by the end of the week all of this will be nothing more than an uncomfortable memory."

And with nothing more than a simple wave of his hand, Lex let the door close behind him. Sighing in defeat, Clark walked back into the living room and pulled back the curtains of the window nearest the grandfather clock. Watching carefully as Lex opened the door to his limousine—all the while he wondered to himself just how on earth he had managed to overlook that massive thing sitting in front of his family's house up until now—loudly started it up, and pulled out of the Kent's driveway.

As Clark was left alone, and Lex vanished from his line of sight completely, continuing down the road that would take him back towards his Luthor estate—far more quickly than the speed limit probably allowed him to—Clark suddenly felt a chill run up his spin.

Letting the curtains fall away from his hand, he leaned up against the window and shut his eyes; blowing the dark bangs off of his forehead with a frustrated breath.

He didn't feel all that comfortable with allowing Lex to leave that easily. And the more he thought back over the choice, the more overwhelming feelings of guilt slowly crept in over his mind, since he knew that there was a pretty good chance that Lex's attacker was more than likely still searching for him through the streets of Smallville. And then, coupled with the way his friend had so carelessly brushed off the fact that he could have died…

Clark moved away from the window as he squared his shoulders, determination coursing through his body as he swore to himself that, no matter what, he would find some possible way to help Lex with this rather dangerous situation he had managed to get himself stuck in the middle of.

Unfortunately, glancing over at the clock in surprise, Clark realized that there was probably very little that even _he_ could accomplish at three-ten in the morning. Shrugging his shoulders with a sheepish chuckle, he figured that it would benefit both Lex and himself if he was at least well rested for the task ahead. He turned and was about to leave the living room and walk up the main staircase when he stopped in his tracks.

Looking back over into the hall, unpleasant images of the last few hours flashed before his eyes. A bloodied, half alive Lex Luthor standing before him in the rain, wearily asking for help, before forward in his arms. Moving him out of the rain and carefully placing him on the couch as he and his family waited for Chelsea. Him sitting beside Lex as he slept soundlessly, doing his best to make sure that, no matter what his concerned feelings were, his best friend was taken care of.

Violently shaking the images away, Clark decided to take the kitchen staircase up to his room instead.

* * *

><p>The next chapter will hopefully be uploaded next Saturday. However, depending on real life time schedules updates could be later or sooner than that date, but hopefully I'll have it written and up by then! Regardless, please keep your eyes out for updates! Until then! :3<p> 


	2. Investigation

_Catherine65: Thank you so very much for your amazingly kind words! Your review was quite appreciated, and I'm so glad you enjoyed the beginning! It truly means a lot to me! I hope you will keep reading and will continue to enjoy the series. :) And yes, I understand how that could be confusing considering Michael and Tom's eyes in Smallville. However, you see, I do things a bit differently in my fan fictions, since in the Superman comics-Lex's eyes are green and Clark's eyes are blue. So despite Michael and Tom having opposite eyes, I try to keep them the way the comics would. :D I hope that clears up any confusion you may or may not have had regarding why I did that. But once again, thank you for the kind words! You rock!  
><em>

* * *

><p>The next morning, Clark slowly rose from his desk in physics as the Smallville High bell chimed loudly, indicating the end of the school day. Politely pushing his chair back as he flung his pack over his shoulder, he kindly offered his teacher a friendly smile before walking out of the classroom. Closing the door quietly behind him—as he very often did, since he was almost always the last one to leave—he uncomfortably started to push his way through the oncoming crowd of students as they ran to their lockers. Opening them up and excitedly reaching for their notebooks and backpacks and doing whatever possible to assure that they got home as quickly as they could.<p>

But while his fellow high school student's minds were currently in the process of going over plans of how they were going to spend their weekends relaxing or being with friends, Clark's mind was still heavy with the events that happened the night before. Someone out there in Smallville sought to end his best friend's life. And while he didn't know who she was, or why she would do such a thing, he knew that there was one person in the school that could help him find the answers he needed.

Descending down the stairs to the bottom floor, Clark smiled to himself as he stopped in front of The Torch's main office door. If there was anyone that could help him get to the bottom of this issue, Clark knew that it was her and her alone. He reached forward and opened the door, but as he did, he ended up colliding into his friend Chloe.

With a shriek of a surprise as she slammed headfirst into his chest, she stumbled backwards and tried to regain her balance before she fell completely to the floor. Standing back up with a slight wobble in her step, she brushed the locks of blond out of her eyes, and slowly became aware of just whom exactly she had run into to; and almost instantly her green gaze turned cold.

There were many things in Clark's life that made him feel afraid. Even more that caused made him question his life choices. But not a single thing on his list of fears and regrets compared to how utterly unnerving it was to stand in the presence of an angry Chloe Sullivan.

As they stared at each other in awkward silence, and Chloe's arms came to fold at her chest and she began to tap her foot impatiently at him, a nervous smile crossed Clark's face; and, almost instantly, he tried to piece together the most genuine sounding apology that he could. Hoping that somehow, he could explain to her that he felt incredibly guilty for not showing up at her house when he had promised, and while doing so, _somehow_ tell her the exact reason why that was…without managing to alarm her with the _entire _truth.

But before he had a chance to say anything, Chloe walked forward and poked his chest.

"You better have a darn good explanation as to where you were last night, mister," She said with a frown, emphasizing every other word with a jab of her finger. "Because of your vanishing act, I was left alone to work on the most infuriating, completely headache inducing story line for the Torch yet!"

Clark watched with wide eyes as she quickly moved away from his side and walked over to her desk. She picked up the newest issue of the student newspaper and held it out in front of her, pointing at the main headline; the very same one that the both of them were supposed to work on together.

With a sheepish laugh, Clark tried to speak, but once more he was interrupted. "But don't you worry your pretty little head, Kent. Because, by some _miracle_ I was able to handle it _all_ by myself," She grumbled annoyed as she settled into her green office chair. "…I'm pretty sure that I also managed to run The Talon completely dry in the process, but I guess, to accomplish certain tasks on your _own_, that's the price you gotta pay…"

"Chloe—" Clark began to say, trying to get her attention as he walked into the room and stood beside her desk; but, for a third time, he was cut off and he sighed deeply in frustration.

"Although – and I curse my journalistic curiosity for this – I still wonder why you ended up ditching me in the first place. What was the reason, Clark?"

When a temporary silence filled the room after Chloe finished speaking, allowing her words to sink in and giving Clark enough time to explain. He quickly took his chance; hoping to at least get something more than her name into his side of the conversation before his friend found another reason to say something else. There was no denying it, Clark loved Chloe as much as he did his own family, but sometimes when she started to speak…there was no stopping her until _she _stopped _herself_.

"Chloe, that's kinda what I've been trying to tell you since I got here." Clark told her with a frown, holding his head in one of his hands. Sideways glancing over to where she sat, he noticed her face suddenly flush with embarrassment; obviously realizing that she had, once again, allowed her words to take full control.

With a shake of his head, Clark dropped his hands away and continued in a soft, more apologetic, tone. "Chloe, I'm sorry I didn't show up last night, but…" He let his voice trail off, thinking of the best way to tell her exactly what had happened. After a moment of consideration, he simply settled on the truth. "Lex was almost killed last night."

Almost as if a reflex, Chloe's aggravation towards Clark's broken promise disappeared and was replaced with sheer panic.

"Oh, my God," She whispered in a frightened voice, her eyes widening as she looked up at his face. "Is he all right?"

Clark nodded and leaned against the desk. "He's pretty banged up, but he'll be okay."

Chloe fell back against her chair and placed a hand over her chest; breathing deeply in relief. And as Clark watched her, he smiled softly. Ever since his family's Christmas party, Clark couldn't help but notice that there was something quite…_different_ about Chloe and Lex's relationship.

He had always considered them to be on good enough terms with one another, but as the cold December's night wore on at the farmhouse and Clark had been forced into spending the night with the dear Lana Lang – something that he had graciously thanked Lex for Christmas morning, even despite his original outburst towards the insane idea – he couldn't help but notice the two of them sitting beside the fire. Talking, laughing, and simply enjoying one another's company.

He wondered if perhaps that was where the change in their relationship originally came from. Or, as he continued to think back, maybe it was during that rather terrible snowstorm before New Year's Eve. Where she had run into some nasty luck, and, due to the cold weather and the slippery roads…she had wound up almost crashing her car on the way back into town. And, having no one else to turn to, and upon his kind request, ended up spending the rest of the night at Lex's mansion until the snowstorm passed and it was safe for her to travel again.

Whatever the reason, Clark knew that – if it was indeed heading into the direction that it seemed – there was no one else in Smallville that deserved each other more than two of the most brilliant people that he had ever had the pleasure to know.

"Actually, that's what I came to talk to you about," Clark said eventually, shaking the thoughts of Lex and Chloe's relationship out of his mind and focusing back on the attempt at his friend's life. "The woman who did this to him…she's still out there, and I just – I just don't feel comfortable letting him handle this by himself. And Chloe…I knew that, if there was anyone in Smallville that help me get to the bottom of all this…it was you."

Hearing the amount of faith that Clark had for her abilities, Chloe looked up from where she had been staring off into space, and smiled widely; touched by his words. But, not even a second later, her smile faded, as the conversation suddenly seemed all too familiar for her liking.

"Clark, I know that the loyalty you have towards Lex is nothing short of amazing, and don't get me wrong when I say that I've always admired your ability to look out for your friends no matter the issue, but…" She shifted her eyes away from Clark's gaze and bit her lip, stiffening slightly. "…You remember what happened last time."

It was more of a statement than a question that she wanted answered, and Clark sighed once again. Rubbing a hand over his arm unconsciously as he realized exactly what she meant. With his eyes closed, he nodded his head.

"Yeah, I know, I know," He murmured quietly. What happened months ago with himself, Lex, and the young William Barnes was not something that the teenager had forgotten quite so easily; as the subject was often something that he had rather complicated issues upon speaking of. But, even despite the unsettling memories, Clark pushed himself forward, a serious tone suddenly in his voice.

"But even with what happened with William, I couldn't just stand by and watch Lex get himself killed, Chloe. I _had_ to do something. And now, with it basically happening all over again, do you honestly expect me to sit on the sidelines and do _nothing_? When you and I could possibly find some way of stopping it?"

Chloe blinked up at him in surprise, her lips parting slightly from what he was saying.

"No – No, you're right, I don't." Chloe replied timidly, never once looking away from his face as Clark hovered over the front of her chair with a rather displeased expression over it. Clearing her throat, she spun around to her computer screen and flipped a switch; turning it on. As she logged in her password, a playful smile spread out over her lips.

"God, Clark, you know you can be so stubborn sometimes."

Clark grinned in response and thrust his hands deeply in his pants pockets, shrugging lightly. "I consider it to be one of my finest qualities."

"Lex is going to be furious with you once he realizes what you're doing." Chloe warned him teasingly.

"He doesn't have to know just yet."

"Why, Clark Kent, you sneaky devil, you…" She replied with an amused shake of the head. Pulling up the main screen of her computer, she turned her chair towards him and held both palms out in front of her. "So, where do we start?"

Pulling his backpack off of his shoulder, Clark carefully put it on the top of Chloe's desk and began ruffling around inside it; doing all but dumping it out on the desk as he pulled out and placed several items on the surface. After a moment of searching for what he wanted, he pulled out a small red notepad from one of the piles he had on the desk, and flipped over the cover and to a page that he had previously marked. And, with a look of satisfaction, he handed it over to Chloe.

Looking at what was written on the page, Chloe noticed several names that had been crossed out, crudely rewritten, and one in particular that was near the very bottom of the page. It had several exclamation points sketched beside it and she could make out, even with Clark's interesting style of handwriting, that it said, "_The Wild Coyote_".

Wondering why Clark had the name of one of the only bars in Smallville marked down in his notepad; Chloe gave him a strange, quizzical look.

Catching her bemused gaze, Clark raised a hand, cutting off the oncoming misunderstanding. "I have reason to believe that what happened to Lex is directly linked to that bar on the outskirts of Smallville."

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "How do you figure?"

Clark bent over the desk and pointed towards the paper and the words he had marked out with blue ink. "Last night when Lex was at the farm recuperating, him and I got to talking," He started to explain. "And well, it's not surprising that he refused to tell me hardly anything about what happened. But, as he was trying to avoid the subject, he let slip that he got in over his head at a bar."

Chloe placed a hand underneath her chin as she leaned back in her chair and listened carefully; giving him her full attention.

"So, this morning during lunch, I did a little research on the bars that were in Smallville," He continued, moving two index fingers away from the marked out part of the paper and onto the second name on the list, the one above The Wild Coyote that said '_The Kregburne Tavern_'. "And considering that the local tavern has been out of business for years, ever since its competitor, The Wild Coyote, moved in a few miles down the road…I kind of figured that was where Lex was at last night."

Chloe smirked; letting out an impressed whistle at Clark's thorough research as she turned back to her computer and began to type in a few names into her browser's search bar. A second or two later, she pulled up the bar's official website, cracked her knuckles and went busily to work at her keyboard. As she did what seemed to be, from Clark's point of view, at least three things at once, she opened her mouth to speak; stopping momentarily.

"Well, Clark, if you think you're on the right track with your assumptions…then there _is _one sure fire way to double check."

"How?" Clark asked as he came around to peer over her shoulder.

Smiling, Chloe focused back on the computer, and Clark watched closely as different windows, one including the Wild Coyote's website, and a few others that he didn't recognize, popped up on her screen. She narrowed her eyes in concentration, and rapidly went to work punching in several long numeral codes into one of the windows that hovered over the bar's website.

Clark leaned over her shoulder and was about to ask her if she was doing exactly what he thought, when a new window suddenly popped up above everything else, containing the black and white security camera footage for the Wild Coyote. Clark and Chloe both exchanged a look as they watched patrons enter and leave the building from the only camera that the bar owned, and Chloe's smile widened.

"We go right to the source."

"You think you can find the footage from last night?" Clark asked her with a matching grin of his own as a flicker of hope suddenly ignited within.

Before Clark could even finish his sentence, Chloe had already started typing again.

"Considering the storm last night, I'm not exactly sure if what I find will be clear enough to make out…or if the camera picked up anything at all…but yeah, Clark, I can try to see what I can come up with. Just give me a minute."

As Clark waited for Chloe to find anything that would even remotely be helpful to Lex, he moved away from her side, and walked towards the end of the desk; beginning to pick up the numerous things that he had scattered in his rather messy search for his notepad. As he zipped the top of his pack back up, he heard her let out a yell of triumph. Looking up, Clark saw her pump her fist in excitement and quickly waved him back over.

Placing the pack at the foot of the desk, Clark walked around and leaned over her shoulder to see what she had found out. And, that was when he saw a paused image of Lex standing beside his limousine underneath a downpour of rain, tightly holding a gun in his hand. In response to seeing what she was able to accomplish in such a short amount of time, Clark wrapped his arms around Chloe's shoulders and hugged her tightly.

"Chloe, you did it!" He cried out ecstatically.

Giggling and trying to wrestle Clark's death grip off of her neck, Chloe pulled away and recovered her breath. Pushing her bangs back with one of her hands, she smiled up at her friend.

"Was there ever any doubt?"

With an amused smirk, Clark gave Chloe a gentle nudge with his shoulder then reached his hand out to press the spacebar on her keyboard. He un-paused the image and watched Lex move away from his limo, an angered expression across his face as the rain continued to beat down around him.

"As I figured, there wasn't that much left because of the storm's interference," Chloe pointed out as she moved the mouse to maximize the window so that they could see more clearly. "But, at least it managed to pick this up."

"At this point, Chloe, even _this_ is worth more to me than you know…"

Chloe looked away from the computer screen when Clark's voice suddenly trailed off. She noticed that he was now staring intensely at the security footage, and when she turned back around in curiosity, wondering just what on earth he saw that could have caused such an uncharacteristic expression on his face, she suddenly saw another person on the tape.

A woman, with long dark hair – although with grainy black and white quality it was hard to make out exact details – had jumped down from the roof of the bar and was slowly making her way over to Lex's side from behind; completely unknown to the young Luthor.

Both teenagers fell into a shocked silence as they watched Lex realize the woman's presentence too late, and she stabbed him in the side with what seemed to be a blade of some kind in her hand. But as she ripped the weapon out of Lex's body and he fell to the ground, the footage began to stutter and slow, no doubt because of the strong wind from the storm, and it wasn't long until it faded out completely.

Chloe grumbled in irritation over the lost film, and she quickly began to impute several more codes into her hack program, trying her hardest to see if she could get it back. As she did, she dimly realized that her tall friend that was once hanging over the back of the chair was no longer doing such, and she stopped half way; turning her chair back around to see where he went.

Clark stood with his back to her as he leaned over the desk underneath the window. Chloe couldn't see the expression on his face, but she could see his hands. And, judging by the way they had balled themselves into tightly knitted fists, she figured that what he had seen on the video tape had deeply distressed him. She frowned in sympathy and tried to get his attention.

"Sorry Clark, I guess they forgot to put before film warning label on the tape," She said to him, her voice light and playful as she tried to get him to focus on something other than his concern regarding Lex. "Warning, this footage may contain images unsuitable for some farm boys of Smallville Kansas. Viewer discretion is advised."

Turning back around, Clark weakly smiled at her. Giving her his appreciation for her good intentions, even if they did very little to comfort him. For the image of Lex slumping forward onto the ground injured and bleeding still continued to linger in his mind even as he struggled to recover control over his emotions. Closing his eyes and demanding them gone, Clark sighed deeply as a small wave of ease gently washed over him and calmed him down slightly.

When he opened them again, he saw that Chloe was facing her computer, and was in the process of trying, once again, to regain the lost footage. A few taps of the keyboard, several grumbles of frustration, and a smack of her computer monitor later, Chloe successfully managed to bring the security tape back, and with a click or two of the mouse – she restarted it.

However, it simply replayed the same scene it had showed before it crashed, and Clark, not having the stomach to watch it _again_, quickly spun back around. Focusing his eyes on anything else in the room _expect_ for the screen.

While his attention was currently on other things and Chloe had a quiet moment to think; she carefully looked back over the – now slow motion – film and upon replaying the moment _before _Lex was stabbed scene by scene, she realized that something about the woman who had dropped down behind him seemed…uncomfortably familiar to her.

She shook her head, rolling her eyes and wondering if perhaps she was over thinking and her own desire to help her favorite billionaire and farm boy was getting the better of her. With a slight chuckle, she moved the cursor of the mouse near the area where the woman was crouched beside Lex, and zoomed in on her face; obviously wanting to prove that her theories were based around foolish emotions and weren't at all true. Although, when she did, Chloe was able to get a, surprisingly clear, close up of Lex's attacker, and her green eyes went wide.

"Clark…?" She called to him over her shoulder, alarm in her voice as she stopped the film. "I – I think I know this woman."

Hearing those words fall from her lips, Clark's conflicted thoughts quickly disappeared and was replaced with the same determination that he felt overwhelm him the moment Lex had left his home. Spinning back around in a motion that was so incredibly swift, Chloe would have almost believed Clark had moved at super speed, he walked back over to her; his eyes full of bewilderment.

"Wait, what?" He stammered out confused; giving Chloe an odd look as he stared down at both her and the freeze frame. "How could you know her? I've never seen that woman before in my life."

Realizing his misunderstanding, Chloe shook her head and interrupted her friend's rambling with an amused laugh. "I didn't mean that I knew her _personally_, Clark," She told him in a tickled voice. "I just recognize her, that's all."

"How?" Clark repeated; his hands falling at his sides as he tried to wrap his head around this new, nonsensical turn of events.

Minimizing every window that cluttered the computer screen, Chloe clicked on the _Smallville Ledger _archive she had stashed away on her desktop and, as she waited for the website's search engine to fully load, she turned towards Clark and began to explain.

"About a year and a half ago, I remember seeing a Ledger report about a pretty massive explosion that took place over at LexCorp," She said intently as she typed in a name in the search bar and glanced over the several links that it eventually lead to, all the while she continued. "From what I gathered, Lex had hired on this scientist – Alissa Dale – because of her theories about meteor rocks fragments. She had convinced him to assist her with an experiment, promising that it would greatly benefit the town…but, I guess that didn't work out according to plan, because one thing led to another and well…_boom_."

Watching as she continued to scroll through the links on the website, searching for what he didn't know, Clark's confusion intensified.

"…I don't remember hearing anything about this." He said quietly with a frown.

"All things considered, that doesn't surprise me." Chloe muttered and that caused Clark's expression to twist; looking down at her and giving her another utterly flustered look.

"What do you mean?"

Finally stumbling across the page she had been searching for, Chloe quickly brought up an old newspaper article for him to see.

"…She was supposed to have died in that explosion, Clark."

The large, bold, headline: "_LexCorp scientist dies in chemical fire_" was the very first thing that Clark noticed. The second and most intriguing thing, by far, was the picture of the woman that was directly underneath it. While she didn't have tired bags underneath her green eyes, and her dark brown hair was considerably much shorter then it was in the Wild Coyote's security camera footage. There was no mistaking it.

It was the same exact woman who had tried to kill Lex.

As Clark stood in dumbfounded silence, Chloe pulled up the still picture of Alissa's close up from the film and moved the window until both images were side by side; confirming what she figured Clark was currently trying to piece together in his jumbled up mind.

_So, she's alive after all? She's the one who went after Lex? _Clark thought as he tried to process just what he had been told. But it seemed that each time he tried to answer the complicated questions rushing through his brain, new questions took their place and left him even more confused. His eyebrows lowered in contemplation as he stared at the pictures.

_But, how is that even possible? How could she have survived the explosion? And just why on earth didn't Lex tell me about this in the first place? Why did he-?_

"Clark, you know as well as I do that when the Luthor's want something buried…it _stays_ buried." Chloe said to him after a while, knocking her friend out of his deep thoughts and answering the silent question that hung in the air as he continued to glare at the woman on the screen.

Clark crossed his arms and turned his head away, a sudden dejected look in his eyes.

"Yeah, Chloe, I know…" He said in a low voice, as images of Lionel Luthor, Lex and electroshock therapy flashed through his memory, causing him to shiver. Turning back around after a moment, Clark spoke again; his voice more serious as a sudden thought entered his mind.

"You said Alissa was working with meteor rocks before the explosion, right?" He asked, walking back and leaning over Chloe's shoulder once again as he read over the newspaper article.

"Yeah, so?" She uttered in return; although she already could sense where this conversation was heading, and despite it all, she enjoyed it.

Clark smirked smugly. "_So_, what if _that_ was the reason she was able to beat Lex so easily? What if the explosion _did _something to her? What if she was—?"

"—Meteor infected?" Chloe finished; a large grin on her face. "Well, considering that this is _Smallville_, also known as the home of the weird and the unexplained, I wouldn't be surprised if an explosion _did_ give her meteor abilities. Stranger things have happened."

"Do you think you could tell? I mean, if you brought the video back up?"

"I don't know, Clark," Chloe said with a shake of her head. "The quality was already pretty bad to begin with, and that really didn't make seeing details all that easy..." She moved her head to look at Clark and noticed him staring down at her with a look of utmost confidence, and she couldn't help smiling.

"…But, I'll give it my best shot."

Chloe whirled her chair back around and started to rework on the footage, and Clark momentarily left her side; walking over to the desk that was nearest the window again. He reached down and placed his hand on the empty office chair underneath the desk, and rolled it over to where Chloe was. Spinning it around, he sat down next to her and crossed his arms over the back, watching closely as she tried to enhanced the footage's quality, replayed it back in slow motion with the newly sharpened image, and many other tricks she knew that would help them both recover the answers they needed.

Upon her third attempt, which did nothing but make the video considerably darker and neither teenager were able to see anything else expect for Lex and Alissa's faces, Chloe sighed deeply. With a few clicks of the mouse in the editing program she was working with, she undid the effects she had placed on the footage and started over. Allowing the film to play in the background as she began to think of another route she could take.

As Chloe sat forward in her chair and began to type on her keyboard, Clark, however, silently stared at the tape with a newly peaked interest. His eyes moved towards the side of the camera and watched closely as Lex shifted himself away from the limousine and into the rain. Although Clark knew that he had already seen this scene at least once before, when Chloe had first brought up the footage, something felt odd to him as he watched it over.

And that's when he realized that there was something near Lex's feet, on the ground beside his limo as he walked away.

"Wait, what's that?" Clark cried out curiously, as he pointed to the screen.

"What's what, Clark?" She replied; giving him a sideways glance as she continued to concentrate on the program.

Clark leaned forward and pressed the space-bar of the keyboard; pausing the video. When Chloe became aware of what he was doing, she looked up and noticed him tapping on the computer screen, indicating the object on the ground. Focusing her eyes and realizing what he was pointing at, her lips parted slightly in surprise; completely taken aback that she had not noticed such a thing up until then.

With a bemused expression on her face, she moved the mouse over the blurry shape and zoomed in; all the while she tried to determine just what on earth it could have been that Clark had discovered nearly hidden within the video. As the image became clearer, Chloe noticed that there was a considerable amount of blood underneath the figure that lay in the darkness, and her stomach dropped.

"That's…somebody on the ground, Clark."

Clark's eyes widened. "What?"

Peering back over the image, Clark slowly realized that his friend was right. There was someone lying on their back on the ground. Looking a bit closer he could see that it was a man, seemingly middle aged at best; however, what was most shocking to the young Kent was that there was a large wound in the middle of his chest. And, even with the unmoving picture, he could see that blood ran down the side of his body, and had created a fairly sized pool underneath his back.

As Clark continued to stare at the broken body, he felt a sudden twinge of nausea in the pit of his stomach, and turned his head away.

"So, there was someone else with Lex when he was attacked by Alissa?" He muttered quietly.

Chloe nodded, minimizing the window. "Yeah, it seems like it. Though, it doesn't look like he had as much good fortune as Lex did, however."

Listening to her words, Clark's face twisted into one of regret as he thought about the poor man and what had happened. Death was never a subject that he had ever been all that comfortable with. He, just like any of the humans that walked the face of the earth, had suffered through losses of loved ones, and each time he did – or got even remotely close to losing someone he cared about – a part of him felt numb.

And although he, himself, was not human, he knew that he had been raised as one. Thus he had nearly had the same exact values of everyone else in his life, and thinking about the man's cruel death because of Alissa's attack made him feel very upset. And the feelings only became worse as he thought of the man's family and their heartbroken reactions when they learned of his death. Having to walk to the Smallville Medical Center's morgue to say their final goodbyes as he lay all alone –

_Wait._ Clark suddenly thought to himself. Shoving everything else away as a fresh idea appeared in his mind. _The medical center…_

They needed to find answers as to whether or not Alissa was truly meteor infected. Even more, they needed even the most basic source of information that could help them with discovering just where in Smallville the young woman could be. And Clark knew that, with the man having been killed by Alissa less than 24 hours prior – perhaps there was one way that would make his death not have been in vain…

"Chloe," He said after a while; leaning forward again in his seat.

His friend uttered a slight 'Yeah?' under her breath in response, and Clark took it as an incentive to continue. "The man that was killed…his body should still be in the medical center's morgue, shouldn't he?"

"Hmm, he should be, why?"

"Think about it Chloe," Clark replied with a small smile on his face. "We both need to find answers on Alissa's abilities, if she even has any, and this guy wound up on the receiving end of her attack last night. So, say you and I go to the Medical Center, and we examine the body…?" He intentionally let his voice trail, giving her enough time to realize what he meant, and allowing her to take over the conversation.

"…Then we could probably be able to tell by the way he was killed if Alissa is a meteor freak or not." Chloe finished for him, a grin matching his own on her face, as both of their thoughts began to intertwine with one another.

"Or, at the very least," Clark continued, moving his chair back and standing up. "We could find DNA evidence that could help Lex track down Alissa's whereabouts."

Following his movements, Chloe pushed her chair underneath her desk and stood next to Clark, her eyes flashing with complete playfulness. "Why, Clark Kent, I must say that I'm disappointed that I never realized how ingenious you truly were."

Clark put a hand over his chest and shook his head, throwing his free arm over Chloe's shoulder and pulling her close as he pretended to be hurt. "And sadly, once again, you have completely underestimated my abilities, Miss Sullivan…"

Chloe let out a cheerful laugh, and wiggled out of his grip, staring down at the image frozen on her screen one final time. "Well, either way," She said as she went about shutting everything off. "It looks to me like you and I both have a date with mysterious bachelor number one. And we wouldn't want to keep him waiting, now do we?"

* * *

><p>Thirty minutes later, Clark and Chloe walked through the long white halls of the Smallville Medical Center, doing what they could to remain as inconspicuous as possible, as they slowly made their way to the where the morgue was located. <strong><em>*<em>**Rounding a corner, and waiting for Clark to catch up, Chloe leaned up against one of the walls and noticed a young man sitting at one of the information desks that was in one of the hallways that lead further into the back areas of the hospital, and her eyebrows lowered in irritation.

She knew that the hallway would lead to where they needed to go, but with the worker keeping his eyes fixated on the area…it wouldn't be all that simple to just sneak past him without drawing quite a bit of attention to themselves. And she had a pretty good feeling that the hospital staff wouldn't at all look kindly on their little plan to simply walk into the morgue and double check a body to see the cause of death involved strange glowing meteor rock abilities of some sort.

When Clark came to stand at her side eventually, looking at the hospital worker with an uneasy expression of his own; a new, rather crafty, idea entered Chloe's mind. She reached over and grabbed Clark by the arm, pulling and dragging him back and out of sight. As she spun around and was about to open her mouth to address him, she realized that her friend must have caught onto what she wanted, because he, too, was speaking.

"You go over there and distract that guy and I'll—" The both of them whispered out quickly, and when they realized what they were doing, they stopped and frowned at each other.

"Looks like the both of us had the same idea," Clark said with a shrug of his shoulders. "But even so, you should go over there and distract that guy while I—"

Chloe put her hands on her hips, her frown still in place as she interrupted him. "Now, wait just a minute here, why should I be the one who waltzes over to do it, when we all know that the obvious choice for this job is you, Clark."

"What? Why's that?" Clark asked as he raised his eyebrows.

Chloe let out a tiny laugh, patting Clark's arm slightly. "_Because_ Clark, you have this weird ability to instantly connect with nearly everyone you meet. And so, because of that, you can easily distract him long enough so that I can sneak into the back and make sure it's clear!"

Clark looked unsure of himself as he tore his eyes away from Chloe's and looked back up at the worker in front of him. As he did, Chloe quickly maneuvered around him and started to push him from behind with an overly large grin on her face.

"Come on now, Clark! Get on over there and make sweet, sweet, bromance with that guy!"

As Clark was forced out of his hiding place and back into the hospital workers line of sight, he took advantage of the moment and raised his head, doing a very quick X-Ray vision sweep of the walls in front of him. When they began to turn transparent in front of his eyes and he was able to see through them, he focused onto the morgue and noticed that the door leading into it was bolted shut from the inside.

Clark knew that that would pose a problem for Chloe, and risk getting them both caught, but for a teenager who had the strength of over ten men combine, it did very little to worry him. Smiling, he looked down at Chloe who was still pushing him forward and spoke up.

"Ah, actually, Chloe," He started to say to her, planting his feet firmly on the ground and refusing to be moved another inch. "Why don't you go and try your hand at distracting the worker? I'm sure you'd have much better luck than I would."

Chloe rolled her eyes as she struggled against her – surprisingly heavy - friend. "Oh, Clark, you've gotta be kidding me. Don't tell me that you're trying to weasel yourself out of this _now_…"

Clark shook his head and turned; grabbing Chloe's hands and holding them in his own. "No, no, I'm actually serious," He told her, keeping his smile in place as he did. "Remember that one time when you managed to _flirt_ your way out of a parking ticket? I'm pretty sure you could do the exact same thing here, and I'd be back before either of you even knew it."

"Clark, I don't know—"

Clark let go of her hands and put them on her shoulders; winking playfully. "Oh, c'mon, Chloe, trust me. Just go over there and give him a little bit of that ol' 'Sullivan charm' and I'll take care of the rest."

Chloe stared into Clark's blue eyes and she slowly felt every single argument that she had running through her mind to somehow get him to back down vanish completely. Oh, how she hated that he still had that intolerable power over her. That with one look of sheer innocent, practiced charm… he could still get her fears, frustration, or even her own self-confidence issues to simply melt away into nothing.

She frowned deeply and sighed; backing away and raising her hands up in defeat. "All right, Clark, all right…I surrender. Just stop with the_ look_, okay?"

Clark smirked. "It's a deal."

He watched Chloe as she moved away from him and walked over to the desk, and tap on the counter, gaining the young worker's attention. She then ran off a convincing tale that she was a training nurse and, while on her way to one of the patient's rooms that she had been given care of for the day, she had managed to get herself lost in the one place she hoped to see herself in the future.

He waited until the both of them were deep in conversation, and then broke out into a run using his super speed, zipping easily past them and leaving nothing more than a gust of wind in his place. Speeding quickly down the hallways, he stopped outside the morgue's door and his eyes narrowed. He reached out a hand and grabbed the doorknob; jiggling it slightly back and forth and hearing the locked door react to the movement.

He looked up from the knob, noticing a simple silver deadbolt above it, and smiled to himself. Cautiously looking over his shoulder, and making sure that there was no around to see what he was about to do; he placed his index and middle finger directly over the keyway, and with a slight jab, the end of the lock clattered to the ground. Nodding his head proudly, he turned around and walked back to where Chloe was at.

Leaning up against the wall, still out of the worker's sight, Clark let out a low whistle and signaled to her. When the sound reached her ears, Chloe smiled sweetly at the young man and gave him her gratitude for taking the time to offer her instructions to where she needed to be. When he nodded his head and told her that she was most welcome and wished her the best of luck on her nursing career, she turned on her heels and made her way over to Clark's side.

"See? I told you that you could handle it." Clark said; smiling down at her as they began to walk together down the hall leading back to the morgue.

Chloe giggled lightly and reached her arm out; wrapping it around Clark's own. "Yeah, I suppose you _were_ right about that…"

A few moments later, they came upon the door, and Chloe turned her head towards Clark; giving him a curious look.

"So, what's the verdict, Clark? Do we need to search around for a key now?"

Clark simply shook his head. "No, nothing like that, Chloe," He explained as he turned the doorknob with his hand, and pushed it ajar. "It was already unlocked when I got here."

Chloe crossed her arms; her expression twisting and becoming full of bewilderment as she followed him inside.

She thought it was quite peculiar that the hospital staff would be as careless as to leave one of the doors to such an important room simply unlocked like that, and something in the back of her mind told her that what Clark was saying wasn't completely the truth. But, when she came to stand beside her friend as he was in the process of intensely staring at the body freezers, for whatever reason that may have been, she shrugged her shoulders against her thoughts and instead focused back on the matter at hand.

"He's in here," Clark affirmed, running his hand over one of the freezer doors near the floor. When finished speaking he noticed that his words rewarded him another odd look from his friend, and he chuckled sheepishly. Clearing his throat, and hoping she wouldn't question him over how he could have known that, he reached down and grabbed the handle; silently encouraging her to do the same. And then they both pulled back; exposing the man that was within.

Clark recomposed himself, standing at his full height, and began to walk around the container to examine the body. However, as he did, the very next thing that he felt was an overwhelming weakness sudden erupted from within, causing him to stumble backward in shock as the air was violently stripped from his lungs. He fell against a tray containing various medical supplies, and quickly threw a hand out; trying to keep it steady long enough, so that it wouldn't spill to the floor as he struggled on his feet.

He shut his eyes tightly as beads of sweat ran down his cheeks, and tried to shuffle his way back against a wall and out of the range of the dead man. Even with his eyes firmly closed, he knew very well that they now had the answers for the questions that originally brought them to the hospital in the first place. Because Clark recognized the painful sensation the moment he was near it.

And there was only one thing in Smallville that could ever make Clark Kent feel as though his blood had been replaced with acid.

When he was able to get to a safe distance, so that the only remaining effects he felt was a nauseating stomachache, he carefully cracked open his eyes and glanced over to where Chloe – apparently completely fixated on the dead body, and thus unaware of what had happened – was hovering over the open freezer; an appalled expression over her face.

He re-focused his eyes and realized with a sickening start that the man had a surprisingly large gaping hole directly over the front of his chest. To Clark, it seemed to look to be the size of a person's fist, almost as though someone was able to drive their hand all the way through his body. Clark gaped in shock at the grisly sight, and the feeling only intensified when he noticed that there were tiny shards of green meteor rock sticking out at several different places in the wound.

Looking up, he saw Chloe reach over to the bar in the middle of the room and take a pair of tweezers from one of the trays. He figured that she must have noticed as well, because she then carefully plucked one of the small, bloodied, fragments out of the man's body, holding it up in front of her with a pleased smile.

"Well, when you're right, you're right, Clark," She expressed as she placed the meteor rock in a glass container on the bar, and turned around to face him. "Whoever did this was _definitely_—"

When they locked eyes with each other, and Chloe became aware of Clark leaning up against the wall, a hand over is stomach and an ill look upon his face, her smile faded away and was replaced with a look of concern.

"Clark, are you okay?" She inquired; alarm in her voice as she moved from the freezer and walked over to him.

Expect Clark never heard a single word said by her. His mind was racing, twisting around questions and answers, blocking out every other sound to him expect for his own mental voice.

_So, Alissa _was _meteor infected after all…_ He thought to himself as he narrowed his eyes; a wave of anger suddenly taking over his emotions. _*Another* thing that Lex, oh so carefully, kept hidden from me, I see. _

_But…why? _He went on with an upset expression. _What was the reason? Why did he just stand there and lie to my face about who she was, when they not only knew each other…but she had worked for him! Didn't he trust me enough to help? Or, was it some sort of stupid revenge ploy, and he didn't think that he needed anyone to help him? That he would find and be able to handle her all on his own? …After what happened, I can't believe he would so freaking careless!_

"Clark!"

Hearing Chloe at last, he quickly snapped out of his thoughts. Looking down at her, he noticed that she was gazing at his face with eyes full of worry, and he felt bad for making her feel that way. He shook his head and turned his body around, ignoring the twinge in his stomach as he did, and gave her his full attention.

"You okay, there, Kent? You don't look so good all of a sudden…" She murmured, standing on her tiptoes and placing a hand on his forehead.

Clark backed away from her touch and began to move around her. "Ah, yeah – yeah, Chloe, I'm fine," He stammered out in haste as he walked around the bar, carefully avoiding the meteor rock embedded body as he did, and slowly headed for the door leading out of the darkened room. "I'm just feeling a bit…sick right now. Ah, I guess…I guess that I can't handle looking at bodies the way I thought I could. So, hmm, so, I'm just going to catch up with you later okay?"

Chloe frowned deeply, but nodded at him regardless. "Well, okay, Clark…"

Clark smiled kindly at her, carefully grabbed the folder that she had brought and laid out on the top of the bar when he saw that her back was completely to him, and opened the door; walking out into the hallway.

He leaned against the wall, thankful that he was finally away from the effects of the meteor rocks and breathed in deeply; rubbing a hand over his face. His thoughts still clung tightly to the image of the mutilated man that was lying in the morgue. The fact that his killer was meteor infected with some unknown ability, and was still roaming somewhere hidden in Smallville…undoubtedly searching for his best friend. And, what tugged at the back of Clark's mind most was the fact that Lex had lied to him about each and every single detail for a reason he couldn't quite grasp.

He turned his head and looked down at the folder in his hands; the same folder that contained freeze frames of Alissa from the night before, a print out of the Smallville Ledger report on the fire that was supposed to have ended her life, and shots of Lex's dead worker on the ground, and Clark felt anger swell in his heart once again.

He needed answers to his confusing questions. He needed to learn the truth about Alissa. About how she survived the LexCorp explosion, how she gained her abilities, what they were, and why she was after Lex to begin with.

And he knew that he couldn't find them there.

Pulling away from the wall, he turned his body back towards the hallway leading out of the bottom floor of the hospital. He tucked the paper folder of Chloe's into his jacket pocket, and with a slight scowl…he started to run.

He kept running until he was halfway down the road that would lead him to the Luthor mansion.

* * *

><p><em>Because of certain events that are going to be happening this week in real life, there is a good chance that the next chapter will not be uploaded for two weeks. I will try my hardest to get it done as soon as possible, but I'm not promising anything because of said real life madness. However, despite that, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and please keep your eyes open for the next update; whenever that will be! Thank you so much! :3<br>_


End file.
